BIOGRAPHY

a bit about me & my learning journey

Who is Ms. Georgia Clayton?

In brief:- Passionate about social justice- Teaching focus on alternative education & working alongside at-risk youth - Taught sexual health across the lower mainland for 5 years- Views the classroom as a community - Values humour, empathy, and providing a sense of belonging to each of the students - Seeking to incorporate more music into everyday lessons - Eager to share and hear stories from and among future students'

My teaching philosophy:It is my firm belief that true learning takes place in a environment where students feel a sense of belonging and are encouraged to laugh. I believe that students are capable of learning when they feel welcomed and encouraged to be themselves wherever they are in their educational and emotional paths. ​

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French Language Learning Reflection

June 28th, 2016.

​As we have explored throughout the course, there are a range of tactics and tools that language teachers can apply within their classroom to engage their students more deeply with French culture and the language that they are acquiring. The focus of this reflection will be on two specific Principles of Interactive Learning Strategies (Rivers, 1997), which can be used by teachers to effectively encourage students to create more meaningful connections of the language they are learning to the world around them. These interactive learning strategies include: shaping the class based off of the students needs and objectives, and extending student knowledge beyond the classroom by bridging connections with their communities and French culture (Rivers, 1997). This reflection will connect how these interactive learning strategies support Lourdes Ortega’s Second Language Acquisition theory, specific to Crosslinguistic Influences of LanguageLearners and Social Dimensions of L2 Learning theories. Research has shown that language learner students who experience and encounter classroom content that is catered towards their needs and objectives are more likely to be actively retaining their knowledge. From my experience within French immersion, I recall this being a common strategy that teachers used to engage their students more deeply with the material. This strategy has proved evident in how “content relevance to the life, interests, and future career of the student brings the language alive and sparks motivation to use it actively” (Rivers, 1997). This emphasizes that when teachers create assignments and facilitate discussions that are specific to students’ personal growth and hobbies, students are able to strongly develop and apply their L2 skills. This process can be connected to Lourdes Ortega’s discussion on crosslinguistic influences, in that students “knowledge and capabilities for competent language use are already available to L2” (Ortega, 2009). This implies that if students are acquiring L2 language skills, they must be encouraged to go beyond communicating in their “mother tongue (and any other known languages) [as it] universally influences the processes and outcomes of L2 learning” (Ortega, 2009). Therefore, encouraging students to engage with classroom content that is meaningful and directly applies to their life, a process that they can readily communicate in their mother tongue language, students will be more motivated to be active in process of going beyond their L1 skills. For teachers, these skills can be further developed by applying students’ knowledge of themselves and their interests to that of their communities.For students and teachers alike, taking the learning beyond the classroom and into other communities can encourage stronger connections and meaning to their overall language learning. Examples of this process can include the following: having pen pals with another class in Quebec, participating in Festival du Bois, singing French songs, going to French films, and planning a class trip to a French province or city. Each of these examples demonstrate how teachers can provide the opportunity to fully engage their students with French language and French culture, demonstrating how “the real world extends beyond the classroom walls [as] language learning takes place in and out of the classroom” (Rivers, 1997). Ortega’s Social Dimensions of L2 Learning theories emphasize the importance of this process when he states that: […] Language learning and social learning [are] constitutive of each other; it investigates how, through social activity with willing experts, newcomers gain not only language knowledge but also membership and legitimacy in a given group or community (Ortega, 2009).This quote indicates that in inviting students to be a part of a larger community, students and teachers are able to apply their language learning to skills in a more meaningful and insightful way.​Language teachers have a wide array of resources and skills that they can utilize in ensuring that their students acquired and develop the skills necessary to succeed. This reflection has explored elements of Ortega’s second language acquisition theory, and connected it two specific interactive learning strategies. These two strategies, shaping the class based off of the students’ needs and objectives and extending student knowledge beyond the classroom, are just two successful ways that teachers can create more meaningful and impactful learning in and outside of their classrooms.